We read a lot about napping with young children but there is a void of information about when your child no longer needs a nap, so I thought we might spend some time on this topic. Firstly, although all children are different it would be usual for a child to nap until at least 3 years old and some closer to 4. Some children will “give up” napping really early and some may cling on for dear life. Very

Discussing children’s sleep can sometimes be controversial with lots of different schools of thought of what makes for good sleep or what is the “right “ way. For me, the decisions that parents make are deeply personal and an entirely in-house decision. When asked how you can help a child to sleep better, I am always willing to share some suggestions that can help nudge your current sleep practises closer to your goals and your child's sleep ability. However,

Using the Dummy   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drgehgT1t3k If you find that you are routinely re-plugging your baby’s dummy, then lot’s parents feel that they must simply get rid of the dummy to help this to improve, and the thought of this can seem quite daunting. It’s not always the case that removing the dummy will help your child sleep better, in fact, finding yourself replacing the dummy for your baby can indicate that they are not well rested and the

What can you do when you feel like you have already tried everything to help your child sleep? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZ-Ng0RXHLc   Sleep can be a substantial challenge for many parents, you are not alone! Although it is common for parents to feel like they are the only ones, the reality is that some 40-70% of families report sleeping issues and challenges within their home within the first 3 years and sometimes even longer! Common sleep complaints with children over

You may have heard it said on many occasions that you should never wake a sleeping baby and on the whole I would tend to agree that if you have managed to get your child to sleep, then let them be. However, there are a few exceptions that I will always suggest: In the morning: 1. I always recommend that you wake your child no later than 0730 am, to press start on the day. Even if you have

Helping your child transition to the crèche A lot of our children will be in day care when we return to work. I always suggest that you work on your sleep about 6 weeks or so before your return to work date so that you don’t have any issues that could be avoided. To have a smooth (ish) transition to crèche, then try to ensure that your child is well rested and capable of sleeping without parental input before

Nap transitions Your child has a need to nap-in fact; Mama’s have a need to nap too! But the child nap can be a hard one to master! Your child goes through so many nap transitions in the first 18 months that I thought you might like to know what we might consider to be typical in most instances. The early days and months and filled with multiple naps, some long ( if you are lucky) some short-which is

BEAT early rising Waking too soon to start the day can be a viscous cycle and one that can affect almost any age range. There are certain cause factors that generally need to be addressed and there are also some instances when the early rising represents something else that may be going on with your child. Early rising proper is when your child routinely wakes before 6am to start the day. Many parents describe their child who wakes at

The transition from the cot to a big bed can happen at any stage, but many families may start thinking about it from about 2 years of age plus. It is not unusual for this decision to be prompted by the arrival of a new baby and the existing tenant may need to be evicted. I typically encourage parents to think this one through very carefully in order to establish whether their child is ready for this change despite

Understanding that new born sleep is tricky is possibly one of the best things a new parent can do. The more we normalise the fact that young children are not designed to sleep without a parent very close by and then wake quite frequently, the less it will be perceived as a problem leaving parents feeling like they are doing something wrong. There are huge variations’ in infant sleep, but one of the over-riding tendencies is that many young

As the Christmas holidays and fun approaches you may want to have a quick think about your child’s sleep practices for the festive period. It can be such an exciting time for our young children, but it is also a busy time with extra activities, holiday visitors and visiting, along with late nights and possibly staying away from home. Whilst you absolutely need to embrace the merriment, do be cautious and mindful about how sleep can be affected and

5 things that you should never say to a parent with a child who doesn’t sleep…. Show me one parent with a sleeping problem and I will show you 20 more who have a suggestion that they think might help. It’s always well intentioned, but very often this unsolicited advice is unhelpful and demoralising. Don’t get me wrong, we all need to support each other, but with so many force factors affecting your child’s sleep, it can be very

My child is now 13 months old and lots of people are telling me should be on one nap during the day, he doesn’t seem ready to me, when do you think he would be? Typically young children are ready to transition from two naps to one around 15-18 months. It is very important not to rush this transition as if your child is not biologically capable of being on one big sleep, you may start to experience, frequent

Your child will generally require a day time nap for the first 3 years of life. This would typically be considered a biological need for sleep that evolves from birth. Without necessary daytime sleep, you may find that your night-time sleep is fractured, due to overtiredness, and you may also observe compromised mood, behaviour and appetite. Although day time sleep can often be challenging to establish and is ever- changing within the first 18 months; achieving adequate naps can

Naps are definitely hard, regardless of your child’s age, but none more so in those early few months as your baby’s nap rhythms are generally not established until 6 months which can mean that both you and baby are frustrated trying to achieve and maintain any semblance of day time sleep. Firstly, it’s important to note that having challenges with naps in the early months is entirely typical and not a representation of your skills as a parent; nor

How that is a lot of baby’s don’t seem to sleep like a baby you may ask? Very often parents report struggles with their children’s sleep. Not all sleep issues need fixing and not all sleep challenges can be rectified, well not at least until your baby is older than 6 months of age. First of all, I would never consider what is happening to your child’s sleep to be a problem that requires intervention until they are at

  Lots of factors affect your child’s sleep, the timing, the environment and way in which they go to sleep, developmental leaps and stages, travel, maternal mood for example. Another significant sleep-wrecker is sickness and teething. Sickness and teething can have ongoing impact on your child ability to sleep well. Many children will experience bouts of routine illnesses such as ear, throat, chest infections, colds and viruses with minimum sleep disturbance. Others may have parents up at night (sometimes

Talk to any parent and they will potentially tell you that one of their children routinely resists sleep. Whether the battle ensues at bedtime, over night or for nap time, it is a common issue. Parents of children who continually fight sleep start to report that their child doesn’t like sleep, needs less sleep than their peers or perhaps is so bright, they find it hard to switch off. Whilst all of those considerations may be valid, it is

Your new baby will come with their own individual sleep ability. Please bear in mind that in the first 6 months or so there are no real, so called “bad habits” and you must not worry too much about how and where your child sleeps, provided you are observing safe sleep and making informed decisions. In the first four months specifically, their sleep is immature and your baby is mostly regulated by her need to feed, potentially little and

Naps are challenging to say the least. Day time sleep is quite different to night time sleep and although not the same, they are related and have a big impact on each other. Achieving adequate day time sleep can make all the difference to a restful sleep over-night and can help parents avoid unnecessary melt downs from a cumulatively over tired child, who finds it difficult to process the challenges of the day. Be aware that young children typically

If you find yourself struggling to establish better sleep for you and your young child then it may be worth considering making some changes to how you operate when it comes to sleep time and throughout the day and also how you manage the your child’s awakenings. In an ideal world all children would sleep when we want them too and no parent or child would struggle with not getting enough sleep but sleep by its very nature is

It is not unusual for some parents to have a great little sleeper who all of a sudden turns into a horrible little sleeper. Typically, sleeping issues may be represented by a resistance to sleep at bedtime, waking frequently overnight or deciding that they just don’t want to nap anymore. As a result you are stuck in a cycle of overtiredness that is an unwanted gift that keeps on giving-wearing you and your child out and continually adding to

For many years experts have been promoting the concept of the B’s..that is Bath, Bottle and Bed. However, this ideal may only be suitable for a certain percentage of families and for the rest of us-in fact the majority of us, this approach could be one of the largest contributory factors to the sleep issues that you experience. If your child is 6 months of age or older, then what you do before they actually go to sleep, could

Developmental stages and milestones can have a significant impact on your child's sleep.  It is not a myth, but a reality with some children being more affected by others and some stages causing a bigger sleep disturbance.  Early waking, short naps and resistance to going asleep can represent the start of a developmental phase. This is mostly apparent for a routinely good sleeper.  Parents will repost that their current sleep problems become heightened during the developmental time. Typically, the most difficult issues